{"id":74120,"date":"2025-12-04T12:51:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T17:51:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/?post_type=article&p=74120"},"modified":"2025-12-08T08:30:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T13:30:03","slug":"how-nonprofits-can-stay-resilient-in-todays-legislative-landscape","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.nonprofitpro.com\/article\/how-nonprofits-can-stay-resilient-in-todays-legislative-landscape\/","title":{"rendered":"How Nonprofits Can Stay Resilient in Today\u2019s Legislative Landscape"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year has been a challenging one for nonprofits navigating the legislative landscape, but the challenges didn’t start this year.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We are facing some headwinds unlike those that we have seen coming from our political leaders, certainly in the 30 years in my career,” Shannon McCracken, founding president and CEO of <\/span>The Nonprofit Alliance<\/span><\/a>, said in her closing keynote at <\/span>NonProfit POWER<\/span><\/a> yesterday.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCracken likened the impact this long-term stress has had on nonprofits to nature: A tree grows stress wood that makes it strong when facing the elements; without wind, it becomes weak and collapses. Nonprofits, she said, have already developed their own stress wood.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

“Your organizations are already accustomed to doing the hard work to adapt and to innovate and to adjust to the environmental challenges around you,” McCracken said. “And that stress wood shows up for you right now in things like your strong governance policies, your partnerships, your cash reserves, your loyal donors, your loyal staff — people who get up every day and come to work and do the hard things because they believe so strongly in the mission.”<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the greatest challenges on the legislative front in 2025 has been the threat to 501(c)(3) status.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Many of you will remember last year in Congress, they had H.R. 9495, sometimes called the ‘nonprofit killer bill,’” McCracken said. “This was the bill that would have given unprecedented authority to the Treasury secretary to identify organizations that are terrorist-supporting and, with very minimal process, freeze their 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. It wasn’t clearly defined exactly what would count as terrorist-supporting organizations.”<\/span><\/p>\n

However, as McCracken noted, there are already regulations in place to identify terrorist-supporting organizations, and also processes to eliminate the 501(c)(3) status of an organization.<\/span><\/p>\n

And while <\/span>H.R. 9495, or the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act<\/span><\/a>, didn’t pass the Senate, the concept and wording cropped up in the <\/span>One Big Beautiful Bill Act<\/span><\/a>, though it was dropped from the final version. McCracken said she expects that language to return in the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I think a lot of us look at it and say it’s about limiting free speech, and it’s about controlling which organizations or which types of organizations continue to receive public support,” she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here are four ways nonprofits can stay strong as they face continued challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be Visionary and Passionate<\/span><\/h2>\n

When thinking of a successful nonprofit executive director, what traits come to mind? According to an AI assessment that Greg Harrell-Edge, founder of <\/span>Proimpact Project<\/span><\/a>, conducted, the top characteristic was being passionate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Conversely, the top trait for corporate CEOs was being visionary. McCracken reasoned that nonprofit leaders should be both passionate and visionary, not one or the other.<\/span><\/p>\n

“You need to hear that you are visionary, and you need help to do and be more of that,” she said. “And that starts with the way that we talk about ourselves, talk about staff and our colleagues, talk about our partners and our clients. … People think that we’re nice and we’re good and we’re passionate, and we are those things on most days. We show up that way, and we are also visionary. It’s not an either\/or. So take that, lean into it, be bold, do the things that are hard, even when you might fail, because that’s how we find success.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Own Your Value<\/span><\/h2>\n

Being visionary is crucial to weathering the challenges presented by the legislative landscape, and so is owning your value as a nonprofit. As McCracken pointed out, embracing and sharing how much of an impact you have on society serves as a reminder to everyone.<\/span><\/p>\n

McCracken shared a framework to help nonprofits do just that. That framework includes:<\/span><\/p>\n